It doesn’t get the nickname “Windy Wellington” for nothing. Race day was a mix of strong gusty Northerlies and rain. But, when you sign up for a marathon in Wellington in the middle of winter you can’t really expect nice weather. You just have to embrace the crap weather as it makes the whole day feel much more hardcor! After all, this is all training for Ironman so the tougher it is the better!

This was my second marathon, after completing the Mt Cook marathon last year. There were pros and cons to having done the distance before. The main benefit was that I knew I could cover the distance. But, the downside was I knew it was going to hurt and I had a time I wanted to beat.

Apart from the average weather the weekend in Greymouth for the Around Brunner cycle ride was awesome. We mixed up our method of transportation and took the Tranzalpine train to and from Greymouth. The train ride was absolutely amazing. The views were so stunning, the commentary was really interesting and it was so nice for us both to be able to sit back and relax rather than one (99.9% of the time Chris) having to drive.

Due to the organisers not being able to cover the costs from entries last year they were going to cancel the event all together this year. Fortunalty, there was enough interest from participants and the organisers decided to go ahead with the event if they had 300 entries before 1st March. They didn’t get 300 entries but one of the sponsers pledged to make up the difference and the show went on! All I can say is I can’t believe there are not at least 300 people that want to do this event. The course if fantastic, the scency is stunning and the event is very well orgainised. I will be back for sure!

One week after doing the enduro triathlon is not ideal timing to do an Olympic distance triathlon (1.5km swim, 40km bike and 10km run). But, how could I resist a triathlon in Christchurch that lots of the Hamilton buddies were coming down to do?

This year the Corsair Classic triathlon was the NZ Olympic distance triathlon championships so it attracted a lot of triathletes from across NZ looking to be their age group national champion or qualify for the world championship.

For me the race was about being part of the action and just enjoying another triathlon. It was far from a fast race for me so no chance of qualifying for the world championship race – even if I had a fast day I still don’t think I would have qualified.

Once again The Mount festival of multisport delivered a stunning weekend of events in Mount Maunganui.

After doing the POT half as my first half ironman last year there was no way I was going to miss coming back again this year. The course is stunning, the race weekend is well organised and there are always a great turn out of fellow Team Hardcor members, in particular the legends themselves – Nikki and Cor!

When the festival announced they were running a new enduro event this year I was sold. It sounded like the perfect stepping stone from the half ironman last year and to the ultimate goal of ironman NZ 2019. A half ironman consists of a 1.9 km swim, 90 km bike and 21.1 km run. The new Enduro event was made up of a 3 km swim, 120 km bike and 25 km run.

One of the great things about doing a PhD is sometimes the conferences you go to are in amazing locations. This week was the annual NZ Maths and Statistics postgraduate conference. Victoria University of Wellington did an amazing job of hosting this event and picking such a beautiful location – Kaiteriteri.

I was so happy when I found out the conference was going to be in Kaiteriteri as it is one of my favourite places in NZ. The beach is golden and stunning and it is on the edge of the Abel Tasman National Park.

It is easy to get caught up in the hype of big flash events and miss the little gems at your doorstep. This wasn’t the case for Chris and me on the 12th November when we made our way to the somewhat local Waimairi beach for a Sri Chinmoy trail run.

If you’re not familiar with Sri Chinmoy runs they are hosted by the Sri Chinmoy marathon team all around the world. In NZ they take place in Christchurch and Auckland. They have a variety of events from 100 km races on a certified 2.5 km asphalt loop to trail runs at the beach and cross country runs at the local show grounds.

There are so many reasons why I love these events but most of all you get breakfast after the race and the entry price is affordable. As much as I love events sometimes the price makes it hard to justify doing them. This race was $15 for me as a student and $20 for an adult. I have seen a lot of 10 km races for around $50 which seems a bit steep for me given running 10 km is a pretty regular activity these days. At the same time I’m not completely against spending lots of money on events as they are always fun and it is good to mix the training up with some events to keep you interested.

It feels like this day was a while in the making. My original plan was to do the Wellington marathon in June but due to some knee niggles that wasn’t going to be achievable and I converted my entry to the half marathon. The next marathons on the calendar were either the Dunedin marathon or Mt Cook marathon and the Mt Cook scenery caught my eye.

After months of training the day had finally arrived to travel down to Mount Cook to take on this mission. We arrived in Mount Cook village the day before the marathon to breathtaking scenery and a few nerves for what was to come.